B-Movie Central Cheese Blog

And here I sit – another sleepless night.  This night is different however, because we had that moronic time change tonight.  So now instead of being 3:13 a.m. when I write this, it’s 4:13 a.m., which especially sucks because I have to go visit my parents tomorrow and I haven’t slept.  Somehow, I got on this cycle again of sleeping a huge chunk of the day and then being awake all night.  It happened after I got the last issue of the magazine out.  I was up until like 5:30 a.m. finishing things up and then slept during the day.  It totally threw me off.

Anyway, being up at night gives me time to think about things.  Oh, it’s nothing special.  It could be anything from what a corrupt, psychotic, lying socialist bitch Nancy Pelosi is, to my diet to why the dog insists on laying behind me every time she has the farts.  There’s a complete randomness to night time thought processes, which are usually influenced by whatever you’re reading, seeing, listening to or experiencing in a sensitory way, like dog farts.

Here’s a good example.  I was just sitting at my wife’s desk working on updating my sister’s computer for her, and this commercial came on the radio for a local furniture store talking about all the great furniture you could get for no interest financing and stuff like that.  The first thing that went through my mind was, “Hey, it’d be nice having a really nice bed with a nice headboard and foot board and a really nice pillow and comforter set.”  Well, it wasn’t that detailed, but it was an all encompassing thought that basically amounted to that.  But then I thought to myself, “Well, the dog sleeps with us, and I wouldn’t want him messing up our nice new bed.”  Then I thought about how I’ve always been satisfied with simple things.  For example, we have an average bed without a headboard or a foot board, with an average pillow and comforter set that have seen better days but are still nice enough to use.  It’s comfortable and it’s functional.  That’s all that matters to me.  We have furniture in the living room that we’ve had since we moved here over twelve and a half years ago.  Sure it’d be awesome to have new furniture, but the furniture we have works.  We sit on it, and it keeps us from hitting the floor when we bend our legs and lower our butts.  What more do you need?

People have become far too hung up on unimportant things, and more often than not, it’s all just for show.  “Hey look how much money we have!  Look at all the nice stuff we surround ourselves with!  Aren’t we great?!?”

I got news for those of you who are like that.  What you have doesn’t make you great.  The content of your character is what defines your greatness, or lack thereof.  The sooner you learn that, the sooner you can start examining yourself critically, which will hopefully lead to self improvement as character flaws are identified and corrected.  Things like having to have nicer stuff than everyone else so you can feel superior.

Now don’t get me wrong here.  There are times when having the best makes sense.  Not from a, “Hey look how cool I am because I have this!” standpoint, but from a more practical, “You get what you pay for,” standpoint.  For example, I recently bought an Axe-Fx Ultra guitar processor.  It’s the best guitar processor / multi-fx unit available today and costs $2,000.  Did I need the best?  Well, I’m a musician, and music gear costs a lot of money.  I’ve also used different processors at a lower price point and they were all less than satisfying and felt like a waste of money.  So I sold a bunch of gear, including my drum set, and bought myself an Axe-Fx Ultra.  Not to show off or stroke my ego, but because I’m a musician, and having the best means having a great tone that I can be happy with and that will inspire me to play and to explore new dimensions musically.  I won’t lie.  It’s uber cool to have one.  Pretty badass actually.  But that’s not why I bought it.  I bought it because I was making an investment in myself and my music, and because for that $2,000, I’m getting a unit that I’m going to get a LOT of years of use out of.

It’s 5:01 a.m. now.  Still working on my sister’s computer, and trying to come up with something to ramble about next.

Oh, would you snotty ass leftists please stop with the Sarah Palin bashing…please!  Jesus, I mean seriously, it’s not funny, it never was.  All it does is show how pathetic and mean spirited you all are and how you’d rather insult and demean her rather than have a rational, logical debate with her about the issues.  Why do I mention this?  Because tonight on the cover of Boise Weekly, I noticed on the cover they had a cartoon of her in a nun’s habit with horns and an upside down cross.  Are you people really that afraid of her?  You’ve become obsessed, and it’s not only unhealthy, it’s really just pathetic.  Do I agree with her on everything?  Absolutely not.  However, she’s a nice person, a good mother, and was one of the few honest politicians who was driven out of office by repeated ethics complaints by the lefist wingnuts out there who obsessively tried to drive her out of office or to discredit her in any way possible.  I would like to add that every ethics complaint they levied toward her, she was cleared of.  All it did was cost both her and the taxpayers assloads of money to deal with all the bogus claims, so she finally gave up and left office.  There, you all won.  Happy now?  Are you really happy with yourselves for badgering an honest politician out of office?  Well you shouldn’t be.  I know that nothing I say will put any shame into that crowd, so it’s a waste of breath to even try.

Let’s see, what else…

Jeez, I’m starting to have a hard time thinking clearly.  It’s gonna be a LONG damn day.  I wish I didn’t have to go, but I do, and I have a lot more work to do on my sister’s computer before we go, so I guess I’m not getting any sleep tonight.  That sucks.   Still doing the damn windows updates.  She was WAY out of date.

I guess I’ll wrap this up.  I didn’t really have much to talk about.  Things have been pretty boring in my life…as always.  I wish I had more to report, but I really don’t.  Oh well, maybe next time I’ll have something interesting to say.

Hey folks,

Yes I know the issue is late, and I apologize for that. Unfortunately, I had several issues working against me this month, including scheduling problems, illness, technical and formatting issues and more. It’s just been a bad month all around. However, that doesn’t mean we have a bad issue for you. In fact, just the opposite. We have a pretty great issue this time around, and here’s what we’ve got for you.

Interviews:

Jason Schaver & Ken Gayton
April Burril (a.k.a. Chainsaw Sally)
Philip & Lucy Magcalas
Michael A. Hoffman
Loyd Cryer and the Texas Frightmare Weekend
Blake Fitzpatrick

This Month’s Sleepover Girl:

The beautiful and talented Katie Stanley is our March Sleepover Girl!

Articles:

Ole’ Blue Eyes, a Killer?! Well, he is in this film! This month independent filmmaker Jason S. Lockard brings us a cold blooded thriller, starring The Chairman of the Board himself, Frank Sinatra! This is one of those films that’s sort of been lost in the shuffle over the years, but definitely should not be forgotten.

The 80’s were actually a pretty fun time for movies, and Danny Runion doesn’t want us to forget some of the greats of that era. So rather than giving us one of his usual mashup articles this month, he’s provided us with a piece talking about some of the great films of the 80’s that should never be forgotten.

Movie Reviews:

A Bell from Hell
Abigail Lesley is Back in Town & Laura’s Toys
Addicted to Murder
Addicted to Murder: Tainted Blood
Arthur, Autumn & A Violin
Banshee!!!
Bikini Jones and the Temple of Eros
Chepachet
Contact
D.C. Sniper
Dante’s Inferno
Dolly Oxem’s Traveling Video Circus
Gutterballs
Hitler’s Harlot Collection
Into the Pit: The Shocking Story of Deadpit.com
Law Abiding Citizen
Live Feed
Massacrator
Midnight
MST3K: Volume 17
One Hour Fantasy Girl
Stephen Romano Presents Shock Festival
The City
The Death of Hollywood
The Waterhole
Twisted Tales

Book Reviews:

Laurel and Hardy: From The Forties Forward
So head on over to Rogue Cinema (http://www.roguecinema.com) and check out all the goodness in this month’s issue.

Hope you all enjoy it!

Now, let me preface this by saying that I’m a Constitutional conservative.  I believe in a small government with limited power and individual freedom.

That said, I have to say that today, 80 “conservative” idiots got together to sign come document confirming conservative principles that are supposed to define conservatism.  Unfortunately, the best they could come up with was some vague list that was not only pointless because of its vagueness, but also quite hypocritical.

Here’s what it said:

1. A Constitutional conservatism based on first principles provides the framework for a consistent and meaningful policy agenda.

2. It applies the principle of limited government based on the rule of law to every proposal.

3. It honors the central place of individual liberty in American politics and life.

4. It encourages free enterprise, the individual entrepreneur, and economic reforms grounded in market solutions.

5. It supports America’s national interest in advancing freedom and opposing tyranny in the world and prudently considers what we can and should do to that end.

6. It informs conservatism’s firm defense of family, neighborhood, community, and faith.

*   *   *

So what does that mean?  Well, let’s take it line by line.

1. Not a clue.  Just sounds like a lot of political vaguery. (Is vaguery even a word?  If not, it should be!)

2. Ok this one’s actually self explanatory and is a really good thing.  Failing to obey this one is what landed us with such a bloated government that ignores the Constitution and assumes rights it doesn’t have.

3. Now this one’s good, but it’s also extremely hypocritical because of number 6.  I’ll explain why when I get down to number 6.

4. Again, this one’s great.  Whatcha gonna do about it though, and how are you going to protect the rights and liberties of normal people when they’re abused by corporations and other businesses that contribute heavily to your party?  Bush changed the bankruptcy law, which helped the banks and credit companies, but totally screwed over your average Joe in trouble.  Where’s the protection for us?  Bush was in the pockets of the corporations and financial institutions, just as so many in the government are, both liberal and conservative, and we end up paying the price for it.

5. Again, this is a good one, but also vague and highly subjective.  There are lots of people who might think it would be a good thing to insert ourselves into the problems they’re having in Darfur because it would raise our standing in the world or whatever.  Honestly, we have no national interest there, nor should we be acting as the world’s policeman.  There are cases however where we should be doing a hell of a lot more than sitting on our thumbs and rotating, like in the case of what’s going on with Iran.  Again, this is a vague statement, and says nothing more than is dictated by common sense.

6. And here we have the hypocritical one that loses them elections, and yet they cling to it like a bunch of morons.  In number 3 they say that liberty should be respected both in American politics and life.  Now here in this one they pull out the same old oppressive social and religious crap that’s been losing them elections for a long time now, and yet they refuse to let go of it.

Individual liberty was a founding point of our country.  The whole point of this country was for us to be free to live and think as we please, and yet these idiots want to take their religious based morals and try to impose them on everyone, like it or not.  When they say defense of family, that means they’re still clinging to their anti-gay marriage stand and their anti-abortion B.S..  Let me tell you something.  If two American citizens want to get married, the government has NO business getting in the way of that.  That’s not only an issue of individual liberty, but it’s also an issue of gays not being afforded equal treatment under the law.  Gays pay taxes, they serve in the military and they’re an integral part of American life and culture, and yet they’re denied one of the most basic of legal rights simply because, for these religious screw heads, individual liberty ends where the Bible begins.  Let me just clue you in on something here folks.  We don’t live in a theocracy.  That’s  not what this country was founded on, nor is it how we should be living.  You’re perfectly free to believe in whatever religion you want as long as you leave it at the door when you come in to make policy that applies to the individual citizens of this country.

With abortion, you have the same thing, except that they have even less of a leg to stand on.  Abortion is perfectly legal, and yet, because they don’t think it should even exist because of their religious morals, they try to restrict it and constantly talk about how they’d like to see Roe vs. Wade overturned.  Roe vs. Wade is settled law.  It passed its test in the Supreme Court.  That’s it.  It’s done.  If you all don’t like abortion, don’t have one, but don’t try to impose your beliefs on everyone else.  Sometimes abortion is necessary, and preferable to the alternative.  It’s a hard enough decision for people to deal with without you moralists sticking your nose into people’s private business and trying to step on their individual liberties.

As for neighborhood and community, what the hell does that mean?  What business does the government have sticking its nose into our neighborhoods and communities unless there’s a legal issue or a social problem (like homelessness or gang activity) involved that necessitates it?  People just want to be left alone to live their lives in whatever way they see fit.

Religion.  Now, I’m an Atheist / LaVey Satanist, but if people want to believe in whatever religion they want to believe in, I have no problem with that.  I think it’s stupid, but it’s not my place, nor anyone else’s to tell them otherwise.  However, that said, people do NOT have the right to harm the individual liberties of others by imposing their religious morals on them.  I also believe that freedom of speech should not extend to the incitement by religious leaders of unlawful behavior.  For example, a Christian church riling up its congregation so much over abortion that one of them goes out and kills an abortion doctor, or a mosque where the imam preaches hate against the Jews and other infidels, brainwashing his followers into committing violent acts against them.  These things are indefensible, and should not be tolerated.  Churches are free to say that they’d like their congregations to not have abortions based on what’s in the bible.  That’s fine.  If people want to believe that, I have no problem with it.  Its at the point where they try to impose it on others that I have a problem with it.

Individual liberty is the most important thing we have, and the far left and the far right in our government have been perpetually eroding it for nearly a century now, if not longer, each for their own purposes, and I despise both equally for it.  Freedom isn’t just some esoteric thing that’s indefinable, it’s a thing that each of us deserve under our Constitution, and something that many brave men and women have died to protect.  Unfortunately, the real enemy seems to be right here at home, as our own politicians have done more to erode our freedoms than any outside enemy ever has.

So go back to the drawing board folks.  Come up with something more specific, and leave your social agenda out of it.  The government has no business preaching any kind of a social agenda to the citizens of this country.  You just might find that if you stopped trying to impose your religious views of life on everyone, a lot more people would warm up to your other ideals and start voting for you.

So, after selling lots of music gear, including my drum set, I was finally able to get an Axe-Fx Ultra guitar processor.  Now, I’ve always been a huge fan of Digitech’s GSP-2101 guitar processor.  It’s been the foundation of my rack for almost 16 years, and in all that time, I’ve never found anything that could replace it.  When Digitech came out with their GSP1101, I figured, “Hey, it’s 15 years later, I’ll bet this thing kicks all ass!”  Sadly, it didn’t.  Their GSP1101 was little more than a toy compared to the GSP2101.  The sound was thin, it was poorly set up and designed, the cab sims sucked, their forums are a joke and trying to get firmware updates or any communication from or interaction with the company is like pulling teeth.  One of their people had to split off on his own to release a series of beta firmwares on his own time.  What the hell kind of a company releases a “flagship product” and doesn’t support it with firmware updates?  Digitech has completely lost all credibility as a company.  Their policy of sell it and forget it just doesn’t work when you’re selling products that cost the consumer a big chunk of money to purchase.  That brings me to Fractal Audio Systems…

Fractal Audio Systems, maker of the Axe-Fx Ultra, is owned by a guy named Cliff Chase, who invented the Axe.  This guy is constantly releasing new firmware updates for the Axe that include new features, new amps, new pedals, bug fixes and whatever else need to be done.  He’s also active in the FAS forums, so he knows what people want, what problems they’re having, etc…, and he’s responsive to it.   I looked at the Digitech forums today.  They’re basically sitting on their thumbs waiting for a new official firmware to materialize and sitting around with baited breath for the lone guy from Digitech who has any interaction with them on there (and even that only started occurring after a huge nasty PR mess happened) to give them any news about the impending firmware update.  Have fun waiting guys.  I’ve had not one, but TWO firmware updates since I got my Axe last Monday (the second one being a small bug fix for the first), that added not only a new amp and drive pedal, but also added improvements to an already awesome sounding compressor and made all the amp sims sound even more phenomenal than they already did.  The FAS forums are highly active and full of helpful people who are in love with their Axe-Fx processors and totally helpful whenever people have questions or issues.  I’ve never seen such a great community surrounding a piece of music gear.  As for my beloved GSP2101, I’ve removed it from my rack and put it in the closet for now.  The Axe is the first and only processor I’ve ever come across that was a 2101 killer.  I still love my 2101, but the Axe is just that amazing.

Now, that’s not to say everyone has been thrilled with the Axe-Fx.  There are a few select people who’ve gotten one and then sent it back, and it’s almost always for the same reason.  I call these individuals, 5-knobbers.  Why do I call them 5-knobbers?  Because these are people who’ve used guitar amps all their lives, and are unable to deal with anything more complicated than the five basic knobs on any amp.  Gain, Bass, Mid, Treble and Volume.  Hence, they have truly earned the name, 5-knobbers.  The problem with 5-knobbers is that, when confronted with an actual guitar processor / multi-effects unit, no matter which one it is, there’s a whole lot more you can tweak than just the five basic knobs.  Being unable to handle this, they almost always come out with the same excuse for why they want to get rid of the unit.  Just as a side note, there were people who said the same thing about Digitech’s GSP-2101 as well.

“I just want to sit down and play, I don’t want to have to spend hours and hours tweaking patches.”

Ok, so let’s see here.  You folks can’t be bothered to take a phenomenal unit that, in the case of the Axe, can (currently) give you access to 65 different amp models, a variety of drive pedals, a laundry list of effects and tons of cab and mic sims to give you virtually any sound you could possibly want?  If you people would actually sit down and spend a little time and effort to get your patches set up, you could just sit down and play.  I sat down with the Axe and within an hour or so I had a great sounding bass patch that not only covered mellow tones, but also a brighter, more slappy type tone.  A few days later, I took a blank patch, added an amp model and a reverb, and literally within twenty minutes I had a phenomenal sounding distortion patch that I was playing with a great beat on the drum machine.  It’s not rocket science.  I’m not gonna lie.  There are things in the Axe that are well beyond me as far as knowing what they are and how they affect the sound.  That’s part of the fun though.  Learning that stuff and how it affects your tone.  It’s going to take me a while before I figure out some of that stuff, but as far as the basic to the regular advanced stuff, it’s all easy as hell on the Axe.  It’s only the REALLY advanced stuff like adjusting tube bias and the amp electronics and what not, which are things I’ve never dealt with, which will take some time.  Still, that’s part of the adventure, and it’s a great learning experience.

So to all you lazy ass 5-knobbers who just can’t be bothered, you’re not only REALLY missing out on something awesome, but you’re spending a fortune on various amps and pedals you wouldn’t need if you had actually taken the time to get to know your Axe.

I’ve actually coined a new term here with the whole 5-knobber thing.  I doubt it’ll ever stick or get around, but I think it’s a rather amusing and descriptive term for these types of people.

Anyway, I haven’t posted much lately because of a combination of several factors, including depression, boredom, tiredness and the fact that I’ve been spending a lot more time playing music lately.  I’m at a really bad point in my life right now, without much of a light at the end of the tunnel, and it seems like no matter how down we are, life has to keep kicking us in the damn face over and over again.  I keep hoping something will change, and looking for a way to change things, but the solution has, and continues to elude me.

So that’s it for now.  Time for me to go take a shower.  I’m stinkin’ up the joint.

Hey folks,

Jeez it’s February already! Where does the time go? Anyway, here’s what we have for you in this month’s issue of Rogue Cinema.

Interviews:

Bianca Barnett
John Taylor
Keith Crocker

This Month’s Sleepover Girl:

Deneen Melody has graciously agreed to be our Valentine, and is making a special appearance as this month’s Sleepover Girl!

Articles:

We’ve all gone through slumps in our lives.  Sometimes, personal, sometimes professional.  It hits us all from time to time, and unfortunately, Naama Kates has been going through one herself.  In this fifth installment of her Journey of an Actress series, she talks about the downturn things have taken, how she’s been dealing with it, and about how sometimes, inspiration can come when you least expect it.

Sometimes some of the greatest artists are behind the camera. Such was the case with Nathan Juran, who brought us some of the best and well known classic b-movies ever made. Sadly, many people probably haven’t heard his name before as he was simply a director working behind the camera – an invisible face behind the magic. Well Philip Smolen wants us all to remember this great man for the relatively small but important role he played in cinematic history.

Fairy tales are as synonymous with childhood and this month Independent Filmmaker Jason S. Lockard shares a reworked/retelling of classic fairy tale from writer, director and star Jerry Lewis.

Josh Samford hasn’t done one of his crazy articles for a while now, so this month he thought he’d throw another one against the wall to see if it sticks. This time, Josh is talking about a movie that he thinks should be made. Milo & Otis – Paws of Vengeance. I ain’t even gonna try to describe that one. Just go read it. I dare ya!

Not to be outdone in the crazy department, Danny Runion has a whole new batch of movie mashups shooting out the top of the blender again this month. Now, go get a spatula so we can scrape ‘em off the ceiling and see what he’s on about this time.

Movie Reviews:

Bikini Frankenstein
Cannonball
Deadlands 2: Trapped
Demonia
From the Inside
Hero Tomorrow
Horrible
Hypochondriac
In the Realm of the Senses
Lo
Lost Souls
Night of the Creeps
President’s Day
ROT: Reunion of Terror
S.S. Experiment Love Camp
Sex and Zen
Skin and Bone
The Death of Hollywood
The Final Destination
The Furfangs
The Horror of Cornhole Cove
Torso
Twilight Vamps

Book Reviews:

Lonely Werewolf Girl

So head on over to Rogue Cinema (http://www.roguecinema.com) and check out all the goodness in this month’s issue.

Hope you all enjoy it!

So I’m checking out the Digitech forums tonight, and I find a post by a guy who’s basically been the backbone of the user community.  The guy’s name is Ross Johnson (Singtall).  He’s done lots of promo videos for their flagship product, the Digitech GSP-1101 and has been responsible for sending them lots of customers and helping to support the user community in the forums with his immense expertise, not only with the product, but as an experienced guitarist as well.  He’s made a huge number of great sounding presets for the user community as well, and all he wanted was an endorsement deal with Digitech.  He didn’t even want money, he would have settled for just having his name on the site in the artist section.  So what does he get for all his efforts?  This thread explains it all.  This thread was posted on the Digitech forums tonight.  It was deleted shortly thereafter, as was Ross’ account on the forums, but I reposted it in full in a new thread with a subject line telling them that they can screw over Ross, but this will not go away.  I will not see Digitech sweep this under the rug.  So here’s the thread in its entirety before it was deleted.  I’ll end my comments here by saying this.  Digitech has a sell it and forget it attitude and cares nothing for its customers or the people who help to promote their products.  So if you want good products with great customer support, look elsewhere.  Digitech doesn’t deserve your business if this is how they treat people.

Update: I woke up this morning to find out they had de-activated my account, but not deleted it.  I also saw that they have been busy cleaning out all the posts that related to this subject.  They’re choosing to continue to try to sweep it under the rug and not take responsibility for the way they’ve acted.  That’s fine.  I re-activated my account and made one final post on the matter, which I’m sure won’t be there long, so I’m adding it to this update.  The original thread is below.

You can deactivate my account, that’s fine.  I’ve already spread word about this though, and asked my other musician friends to spread word about it to.  See, they don’t even know Ross, but after I showed them the post about what you guys pulled on him, they were pissed about it too and they’re spreading the word to their friends about just what kind of a company you’re running.  You won’t stop me from spreading the word about this and you will lose future sales over it, guaranteed.  It all could have been avoided if you’d have just done the right thing in the first place, like any sane company would have done.  You instead chose to try to hide the evidence and sweep it under the carpet by making those who knew about this go away and deleting any related posts on the subject.  That’s fine, but there are consequences to behaving like that.

The 1101 is an overpriced toy put out by a company that back in the 2101 days was a great company.  Now…I wouldn’t walk across the street to spit on any of you.  I’m done with Digitech.  Cliff over at Fractal knows how to treat his customers, and he’s the one who’ll be getting my business.

See ya Digitech.  I’ll be looking at my 2101 longingly from now on, wondering what happened to the great company you used to be.

================

Update 2:

Ross and the guy at Digitech made up I guess and things are getting back to normal over there.  The guy from Digitech is actually trying to make an effort to be in the forums now to address people’s needs and concerns.  Hopefully there was a lesson learned here on Digitech’s part.   Still, it’s too little too late for me.  I’m done with them as a company.  This whole thing was ridiculous.  I’ve ordered myself an Axe-FX Ultra and I’ll be a happy Fractal Audio customer from now on.

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Original Forum Message:
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So I’ve been really jonesing lately to get an Axe-Fx Ultra guitar processor.  Yeah they’re two-grand, but holy crap they’re worth it.

I’ve been playing bass since like 1987, and I’ve been working on getting better at guitar.  I’ve also dabbled with drums and synth, but I’m not very good at either.  I can do the basics with those but that’s about it.  The problem is, I’ve never done anything musically other than the time we put a student band together to do a three song set at an outdoor show called Day on the Asphalt back in 1988 or so.  It’s been my unfortunate lot in life that I’ve never found anyone I could truly play music with.  I’ve been playing at home for my own pleasure and that’s it.  That will be changing when my friend Darwin moves back here from Arizona.  We’re going to start working on music and get a band together.  This has really inspired me to start wood shedding myself so to speak.  Basically, to sit and practice scale patterns, work on my finger speed and coordination (which is already really good, but you can always be better and faster), and to start playing around with different genres of music so I can incorporate different styles and feelings into what I play.  The long and the short of it is, I’m a good bass player.  Being honest with myself, I know I’ll never be an awesome bass player like a Geddy Lee or a Billy Sheehan, but I can be a great one, and that’s what I’m working for.

Oddly enough, musically, distraction has always been my worst enemy.  I don’t have the kind of a mind that can do ten things at once.  For example, I can’t really play and sing at the same time unless I’m playing something really simple.  I need to focus on what I’m playing, because any distractions will grab my focus and totally throw me off.  I have an overly active and attentive mind, so it tends to jump focus quite easily.  Concentration and really locking into what I’m doing is key for me.  I need to practice singing and playing at the same time to see if I can improve my ability to do that at all.  That’s something that’s actually has to do with a bridge that’s created between your left and right brain that develops as your brain develops.  Unfortunately, the earlier you start playing music, the better it develops, and I didn’t start playing until I was around 17.  By then it was pretty much too late.  I can improve my ability to do it I’m sure if I practice, but it’ll never be what it could have been had I started playing when I was younger.

Anyway, the Axe-Fx is like the ultimate guitar / bass processor.  It’s the first unit I’ve ever found that could truly replace my Digitech GSP-2101 that I got back in 1995 and still use to this day.  It’s just an absolutely amazing unit and sounds incredible.  I’ve been using my 2101 for 15 years now.  I’m sure I’ll be able to use the Axe-Fx for probably the rest of my playing life.  Now it’s just a matter of getting the money together to get one.

Ok, now on to other stuff…

Those Broadview Security commercials are totally racist and PC.  Why do I say that?  Because I’ve seen all of them.  Every one of them has a white guy (Not even a meth head or anything.  Just a normal looking white guy.) committing the crime.  Like there’s that many white guys committing crimes in fancy, high income neighborhoods.  They could stick a black guy or a hispanic guy in and mix them up, but oh no, we might offend someone.  That’s kind of like showing a series of terrorist acts, but never having a muslim doing it.  If you’re going to apply race sensitivity to anything, then it has to be applied evenly, and that means including whites in your political correctness as well.  You guys need to mix up your criminals more so your commercials are more believable.

The other thing I find irritating about these commercials are the people who own these systems.  It’s always some pansy ass who…well, I’ll get to that in a minute.  First I want to bitch about what happens.  Someone breaks into your house, and the alarm goes off.  Fine, that’s not a bad thing.  It’d actually probably scare off most home invaders, so that’s cool.  What’s not cool is that Broadview calls you to find out if you’re ok.  First of all, if someone’s in your house, the last thing you want to be doing is answering the phone so the intruder knows right where you are.  Second, if you can get to a phone, the last thing you need to be doing is talking to some schmuck in a call center.  You need to hit 911 ASAP, and you can’t do that with the Broadview schmuck tying up the line.  Sure they’ll send help for you, but it’d be faster for you to just call yourself.

Ok now to the last thing.  How come none of these idiots has a gun in the house?  I have several guns in my house, and at least one is always loaded and easily accessible.  If anyone breaks into my house, they’re in for a big mo-fuggin’ surprise, and yet these people in the commercials are always cowering in fear, worried about their kids, etc…  Hey here’s a thought.  Stop being a pussy and get yourself a damn gun so you can protect your family…ya’ damn pussy!

Anyway, enough of that.  Next thing…

This thing in Haiti was bad wasn’t it?  Seriously.  All those people homeless, no food, etc…  Isn’t it funny how when something like this happens, all the celebrities suddenly make it their cause celeb?  You know why?  Not because they’re good people and they want to help out, but because it makes a big show of “how wonderful and caring they are”.  Yes, in quotes.

So where were all these rich ass holes when the people of Haiti were suffering in poverty before the quake?

The other day, I heard that Madonna gave $250,000 to help the people of Haiti, because she cares so much…right?  She likes going off to Africa and adopting kids out from under their parents just she can be trendy like Angelina Jolie and adopt some kid out of some third world shit hole, just to show how awesome she is.  Reportedly, she’s worth around 613 million dollars, and all she can spare is $250k?  Wow, really caring isn’t she.  I guess she thought that’d be enough to make her look good.  Unfortunately, all it does is make her look like a cheap ass who’s just doing it for show.  Hell, with that much money, she could have donated 100 million and rebuilt the whole country if she really cared so much.  The funny thing is, a day or so after that, Sandra Bullock, who’s worth around 85 million dollars, donated 1 million to the cause.  So let’s see here, she’s worth about seven times less than Madonna but donated four times more.  And the thing about Sandra Bullock is, with her I know it’s not just a show donation.  She’s doing it because she actually feels for these people and their plight.  Too bad you can’t say that about most of the other celebs who’ve jumped on the bandwagon just to get a bit of good press for themselves.

Speaking of Haiti…

How can anyone look at what happened there and still believe in God, or have any belief that if there is a God, he’s a good and loving being?  Seriously, that’s just messed up, and some of the finest examples of brainwashing you’ll ever see.  The first thing I heard of it was right after it happened.  There was a missionary who was back here in the US, but her husband was still over there.  Apparently there are lots of missionaries over there because they like to prey on the poor and ignorant.  Anyway, she started spouting off all this shit about how she was thankful that “God was in control!” and all that crap.  Oh, so he’s in control?  That’s why there are so many people dead, homeless and enduring massive suffering huh?  If god was in control, why didn’t he stop the earthquake before it happened so these people wouldn’t have to die and suffer so horribly?  Seems pretty evil to me to allow something like that to happen if you have the power to stop it, which they believe he does since he’s all powerful.  A day or two later I heard some Navy chaplain spouting the same crap.  Then last night, I saw on the news that a whole bunch of Hatians had assembled outside a ruined church (where the archbishop had been crushed to death in the collapse) to have Sunday services.  Wait…what???  LOOK AROUND YOU PEOPLE!!!  How the hell can you people still believe in or love a God that allowed so much human suffering???  Wake the hell up already!

Then there’s Pat Robertson saying it happened because the Hatians made a deal with Satan to get rid of the French.  Don’t even get me started on that ass hole.  There’s always some religious dumb ass that spouts some crap like that after these major disasters.  It happens all the time.  Worthless bastards.

Oh, and can’t forget the shit like Hugo Chavez accusing us of using it as an excuse to invade Haiti.  Oh really?  Well, what exactly have you done to help out, huh?  Nothing?  Then shut the hell up you worthless turd.  That goes for any other crap hole country who wants to bitch about us.  When disaster strikes we’re always the first ones there and the ones doing the most, while these other whiny ass countries only provide a small percentage of the aid we do, if they provide anything at all.  So they can all just shut the hell up.  I mean jeez, our economy’s in the tank and we’re still doing way more than anyone else there.

Ok enough about Haiti.  There’s so much going on with that that irritates the hell out of me, I don’t wanna talk about it anymore.

I’m trying to think if there was anything else I wanted to talk about.  I guess not.  My life’s pretty boring really.  I’ve had a bit of a cold, but I think I’m getting over it now.  Other than that, it’s the same ol’ crap as always.  So I guess I’ll wrap it up for now.  See ya next time.

Hey folks,

First of all, happy new year! I hope it’s a damn sight better than the last one! Anyway, here’s what we have for you this month…

Interviews:

Brooke Lemke
Chris Conlee
Daryn Tufts
Lewis Chaney and Theresa Chadwick
Mike Barbero

This Month’s Sleepover Girl:

Tara Cardinal helps us ring in the new year as our January Sleepover Girl!

Articles:

While Pete Peterson had to operate in the shadow of the grand master of stop-motion animation, Ray Harryhausen, he nevertheless managed to create some fantastic stop motion effects in a few memorable films, including The Black Scorpion. Phil Smolen doesn’t want us to forget the man, who while he never achieved great fame, still managed to produce some great stop-motion effects that still look great to this day. So read on to find out more about the great Pete Peterson, and never let his name be forgotten.

Psychotic killers on film haunt our memories. This month, independent film maker Jason S. Lockard brings us a thriller that has one of the most memorable killers of all time. Yes, it’s 1962’s Cape Fear!

Brian couldn’t resist doing a top ten list to finish up 2009. He hates those crappy lists as much as anyone, but he thought that there were ten notable films that he saw in 2009 that deserved recognition as the top indie films of the year. In fact, he was so passionate about his list, he even threw in a couple of extras!

Danny had a little too much egg nog over the holidays I think. Ok, who are we kidding, he’s a total alky! I mean, he’d have to be to come up with some of the mashups he’s come out with this month! Check ‘em out and see for yourself!

Movie Reviews:

Battle Royale
Breaking Her Will
Condemned
Dirt Bags: Evil Never Felt So Good
Drawing with Chalk
Gozu
Gun Town
I Know How Many Runs You Scored Last Summer
Pandorum
Promenade
Quiet Nights of Blood and Pain
Rooms
Sculpture
Slam-Bang
So Deep in Your Room
The 100th Job
The Chainsaw Sally Show
The Green Monster
The Local
The Lying King
The Money Trail
The Protector
The Second Best Science Fiction Movie Ever Made
The Waking Artist
Tick Tock
Welcome Home ‘The Jay Randal Story’

Book Reviews:

Let Me Tell You How I Really Feel
Mack Sennett’s Fun Factory
See No Evil: Banned Films and Video Controversy

So head on over to Rogue Cinema (http://www.roguecinema.com) and check out all the goodness in this month’s issue.

Hope you all enjoy it!

I know it’s been a while since I made a post.  There are many reasons for that including my father having another heart attack,  computer problems, depression, boredom, lack of ambition, etc…

My father recently had another heart attack.  Not a regular kind of a heart attack, but one where his heart gets severely out of rhythm and it beats so fast that it can’t pump the blood properly.  He had a pacemaker with a defibrillator put in, for the second time.  The first one he had a year ago or so had to be removed when it cause a massive infection that almost killed him.  This time around, he’s doing really well, and if this thing functions as advertised, he shouldn’t have to worry about those kinds of heart problems anymore.  As soon as it gets out of rhythm, the defibrillator will hit it with some voltage and shock it back into rhythm.  The rest of the time the pacemaker part should keep it beating regularly.  I hate seeing him have to go through all this again, and this time he almost didn’t make it, but fortunately, he’s doing just fine now.

Now, on a different subject.  To all you global warming cultists out there, I’d just like you to know that it’s FREAKIN’ COLD HERE!  Like, colder than it usually is at this time of year.  Guess you wouldn’t care about that though since you’re too busy drinking your Kool Aid and preaching your climate change religion to everyone, even though the corruption and lies have been exposed for all to see and people are starting to wake up finally.

Next thing…

Second, Stargate Universe sucks massive ass.  I mean, what the HELL were they thinking taking Stargate Atlantis off the air just to replace it with that crap???  Atlantis was a great show with great characters.  Stargate Universe is more like a freakin’ soap opera.  It’s like they tried to combine Stargate with the feel of Battlestar Galactica, and it just isn’t working.  First of all, there are way too many people on that ship, and second, there’s nothing going on except for interpersonal B.S. and trying to find stuff to stay alive and keep the ship going.  Whoopie!  Where’s the enemy threat?  They’ve gone through a full half season now and they’ve encountered nothing except for some bug things on one planet and some kind of a sand whirlwind thing on another that got on the ship.  Other than that, the show’s been a total dud.  It was bad enough when the idiots canceled SG-1 to make those lame ass SG-1 movies, but then they doubled the piss off by canceling the only other good Stargate just to replace it with this crap.  LAME!

Ok, next…

My computer died.  It happened to die about a week before I had to get out this month’s issue of the magazine too, so I had to order the parts to build a whole new system and have them 2nd day shipped here so I could build myself a new computer and get it up and running in time to get the new issue of Rogue Cinema out.  Naturally it happened at a time when we’re severely broke, so if you enjoy this site or Rogue Cinema and would like to make a donation to help me cover some of the expenses of that, I’d really appreciate it…a LOT.  Here’s a link where you can make a donation.  It took half of what we had left for emergency money to get myself back up and running again so I could continue to bring Rogue Cinema to our readers with as little delay as possible, so like I said, anything any of you can donate to help out would be appreciated.

Let’s see, what else can I talk about…

It’s Christmas, and it’s been even more depressing this year because we couldn’t have a Christmas thanks to our money situation.  I did manage to scrape enough together to go buy Sharon a small present so she wouldn’t have to go with absolutely nothing, but man it’s depressing, and has only added to the depression I’ve otherwise been feeling.  If I could figure out some way to generate some kind of income it would help, but every time I try to come up with something, I come up empty.  I thought about script consulting, but there are already tons of people out there doing that, and the people I’d be doing it for generally don’t use script consultants, so that’s out.  I thought about selling sex toys again, but we have no money to get back into it.  I can’t afford to go back to school, and school never really worked all that well for me anyway.  I really have no clue what to do with my life or how to get an income coming in.  The work for PC techs dried up.  Pretty much everything out there I’m either overqualified for or have no qualifications for at all.  I don’t know what to do.

Anyway, enough of that.  I don’t need to keep sitting here bitching about how crappy my life’s going at the moment.  I’ll move on…

So when I rebuilt my computer, I installed Windows 7, 64-bit version.  I was kinda worried about going to 64-bit, but I didn’t need to be.  It’s been working pretty much flawlessly.  Windows 7, once you finish making a few tweaks to it to remove some annoyances, is a really solid operating system and a worthy successor to Windows XP, unlike Vista, which was basically a turd apparently.  The only thing that hasn’t worked as far as peripherals is my USB MIDI interface, a M-Audio Midisport 2×2, which M-Audio has been too damn incompetent or lazy to release some working drivers for.  The only other thing I couldn’t get drivers for was my old PS/2 Logitech Mouseman mouse, so I finally had to pry it out of my cold dead fingers and switch to a Logitech Laser mouse, which I’m finally starting to get used to.  Actually, the old mouse would have worked generically, but this new motherboard only has one PS/2 port, which I needed for the keyboard, so I had to switch to a USB mouse anyway.  Figured I might as well get a new one since I couldn’t get software for the old one in Windows 7.  Everything else either had drivers or worked right out of the box.  The long and the short of it is, I was up and running without a massive amount of hassle, and now that I’ve been running it for almost a month and becoming familiar with it, Windows 7 is starting to feel as comfortable as XP did.  I’d say in another few months, I’ll be totally comfortable with everything in it and won’t really miss XP at all anymore.

So what else…  Not gonna talk about politics.  I’m depressed enough and the facism, corruption and waste in our government is enough to make me wanna throw myself off a freakin’ bridge.

Man, I had a lot to catch up on when I sat down here, but I’m drawing a total blank now.  Oh, I know.  I’ve started reading all the Harry Potter books.  I just finished the third book and I’m about to start on the fourth.  I’ve always been a big fan of the movies, but I used to get really annoyed when people who had read the book would be sitting behind me in the theater saying, “That’s not how it happened in the book!” or “They left such and such out completely and changed this and that!”.  I have to say though, now that I’ve been reading the books, I fully understand why people are like that.  Aside from the first movie, which was really close to the book, the second and third movies have been so different from the books and left so much out and changed so many things, it’s like you’re watching a film written by someone who never read the book and was only told about it in general terms by someone who had.  The key points are there, but man, to really understand everything and get the full story, you really need to read the books.  I’m still a huge fan of the movies, because taken on their own, they are great movies with wonderful characters and beautiful visuals.  However, as I said, if you want the real story with the full details about everything, you really have to read the books.

Honestly, I used to read incessantly.  I would plop down with a book and literally read it all day until I finished it, even if it took me until well after midnight, I wouldn’t stop until I was done.  It taught me how to be a better writer, both grammatically and in terms of style, and it also allowed me to escape my problems and depressions for a while.  I was able to lose myself in another place.  I guess that’s why I’d lock myself into reading for such extended periods.  I didn’t want to have to go back to focusing on all the problems in my life, and losing myself in a good book was a perfect way to get away from it all.  I lost that passion for reading for a long time after I got on the internet.  I’d read something once in a while, but most of my reading and attention was focused on the net, so I really didn’t have the extra time or desire to get away from things here to lose myself in books anymore.  In the recent past, I’ve buried myself in The Complete Sherlock Holmes, which, as a fan of the Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce Sherlock Holmes movies, I found particularly fascinating.  It was wonderful to actually read all of the original Sherlock Holmes stories and having the benefit of being able to imagine Basil Rathbone right in the thick of it.  For me, Basil Rathbone will always be THE definitive Sherlock Holmes.  Anyway, now I’ve been losing myself in these Harry Potter books.  I’ve actually lost a lot of sleep lately because I spend so much time at night reading them.  I’ve really missed reading, and it’s something I’m going to do a lot more of from now on.

I know I had other stuff I wanted to talk about, but I can’t remember any of it now.  It’s almost 5 a.m. and I’m finally starting to get sleepy, which sucks because we’re supposed to go out to my parent’s house for Christmas dinner today.  I’m kind of dreading that because our dog Buddy hasn’t really been socialized around other people, so I’m hoping he’ll get used to them quick and be ok with everything, but I’m not sure.  We’ll just have to see how it goes.  How he behaves will determine how long we can stay.  We have to take them with us because Missy is diabetic and needs her insulin at a certain time and since they’re both house dogs, we can’t leave them alone for extended periods because they have to be let out to go to the bathroom and such.  I wish my parents lived closer to us, but they’re an hour away, so it’s not like we could just pop back home, let them out to pee and then shoot back over.  Anyway, hopefully everything will work out ok.

Anyway, that’s it for now.  I’m gonna go get a snack and watch some TV.  See ya next time.

Hey folks,

Well after recovering from a dead computer, I finally got the December issue of the magazine out, and only a few days late! Here’s what we have for you this month…

Interviews:

Matther Saliba
Jarrod Crooks
Mike Reilly and Jonathon Kitchens

This Month’s Sleepover Girl:

Jennifer Prettyman warms up our December as this month’s Sleepover Girl

Articles:

Naama Kates brings us the third installment in her Journey of an Actress series. This time around, she talks about her struggle to get that first big break, the things she worked at in an effort to reach that point, and about how the struggle is constantly pulling her forward.

Philip Smolen did what we probably all did as kids. He stayed up late watching all those great old monster movies on television. Well this month, he’s back with another phenomenal article about some of the more memorable films that kept him up way past his bedtime.

Every holiday season new holiday films spring up like weeds, but this month, independent film maker Jason S. Lockard bring us a holiday classic that is good for both the young and the young at heart!

Gail Spencer is back with a look at some radical British drama at the British Film Institute. This time around, she clues us in on a few of the more notable single issue dramas that she came across there.

Brian may come off as a bit of a curmudgeon at times, but he really does like the holidays. Well, at least the holiday movies anyway. This month, he brings us a list of some of his favorites.

Drawing from his bottomless pit of twisted creativity, Danny Runion has created a new list of movie mashups that are so bizarre, they absolutely boggle the mind!

Movie Reviews:

The Inglorious Bastards
Mnemonica
Homesick
Between Resistance and Community
Attack of the Vegan Zombies!
Three Stooges Volume 7
Penance
Self Helpless
At All Hours of the Night
Dr. Horror’s Erotic House of Idiots
Throws of Passion
The Green Monster
Snooze
Six Grand
Young Eyes
Waffles for Virginia
[REC]
In the Folds of the Flesh
Death Race 2000
Fallen
Not Forgotten
Eviloution
Death on Swift Wings
Brainwrap
Road to Victory
The Legacy
Monsters, Marriage and Murder in Manchvegas
A Broken Family
Slightly Used
VictimEYES
Splatter: Naked Blood
Snow Bunny
Sick Girl
Basement Jack

Book Reviews:

Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff
Lucky Stars
Jerry Lewis Contemporary Film Directors Series
So head on over to Rogue Cinema (http://www.roguecinema.com) and check out all the goodness in this month’s issue.

Hope you all enjoy it!